Entraining and Copying of Temporal Correlations in Dissociated Cultured Neurons

Abstract

Here we used multi-electrode array technology to examine the encoding of temporal information in dissociated hippocampal networks. We demonstrate that two connected populations of neurons can be trained to encode a defined time interval, and this memory trace persists for several hours. We also investigate whether the spontaneous firing activity of a trained network, can act as a template for copying the encoded time interval to a naïve network. Such findings are of general significance for understanding fundamental principles of information storage and replication.